49th Hunger Games
by HitThePost
Summary: Bill is selected as tribute in the 49th Hunger Games, in which he comes face to face with not only tributes, but other foul creatures housed inside the Arena.


Am I still alive?

Flecks of vomit disappeared down the toilet as Bill washed his mouth out. He had the right to be nervous; he was minutes away from entering the 49th Hunger Games. He walked shakily into the waiting room. His designer, Garzola, was standing in the centre of the small room, holding up his specially designed jacket. It was a dark blue colour, with a muddy orange trim, as well as the District 9 badge sewn onto the left sleeve. Bill took the jacket and nodded at Garzola in appreciation. Obviously, Garzola had seen and designed costumes for many other tributes, and knew what a traumatic time it must be for Bill. Bill stood silently, facing the glass tube that would transport him to the Arena in the next minute. It was as if he was eager to jump into the Arena and kill other tributes.

_Thirty seconds remaining..._

Bill snapped out of his mood. He seemed to realise what he was about to go into, and began shaking with fear. Garzola stepped up to him and gave him an awkward pat on the shoulder. Bill nodded his thanks.

_Ten seconds remaining..._

Bill straightened up again, and zipped up his jacket. He didn't know whether or not the Arena would be warm, cold or rainy.

_Please step into the tube._

Bill immediately stepped into the tube, before the glass slid shut with a hydraulic hiss. Slowly, the plate moved upwards. About five seconds later, Bill could see the Arena and the Cornucopia. The Cornucopia was surrounded by a moat of water, which had a strange green colouring. Surrounding the circle of plates was a sandy wasteland, dotted by boulders. To his left was a very scrawny-looking tribute, from District 11. To his right, a tall, bulky tribute from 2. Bill wasn't worried about the boy from 11, but he knew the boy from 2 would try to take whatever he got from the bloodbath and probably try to kill him in the process.

_Thirty, twenty-nine, twenty-eight.._

The tributes readied themselves.

_Twenty-seven, twenty-six, twenty-five..._

One tribute ovbiously couldn't take the waiting, and made a long jump, landing about nine feet away from his plate. He had jumped just far enough to clear the mines placed around his plate, and ran towards the Cornucopia. He shouted with glee and picked up a deadly-looking axe. The other tributes shouted abuse and threats.

_Ten, nine, eight..._

The rebellious tribute climbed on top of the Cornucopia, armed with the axe, a sword, dagger, sleeping bag and two bags.

The siren sounded and the twenty-three tributes that hand't left their plates all sprinted for the Cornucopia. It seemed nobody was chickening out, and Bill would have a real challenge getting something good. He was halfway to the Cornucopia when he was shoved by the boy from District 11. He collided with the boy from 2, who kneed him in the face. Bill stumbled, and only just managed to stay on his feet. The boy from 2 was metres ahead of him now, and the boy from 11 was metres behind. Bill swooped down and picked up a nine inch blade, which was embedded in the floor. Seconds later, he reached the Cornucopia and looked around. Seeing nobody about to attack him, he picked up a bag and a bigger, sharper looking knife. He kept checking his surroundings, before noticing three or four tributes, including the District 2 boy, pulling at the feet of the tribute who had climbed the Cornucopia. The boy in question was waving his axe at them, occasionally cutting the hands of one of the tributes.

Bill was so busy gawping at this scene that he didn't notice two girls coming up behind him. They grabbed him around the neck and Bill gasped for air. "That's right,"hissed one of them. "Die..."

"Not...TODAY!" yelled Bill, before kicking at the girl's knee. She squealed and loosened her grip on him. He used this to break away, slash blindly at the girl who was holding him and ran as fast as he could towards the desert. He was pursued by the girls, but he was much faster than them and they soon gave up. Bill stopped about five hundred metres away from the edge of the desert. He could see about seven or eight figures hacking away at each other by the Cornucopia. It looked to him like the tribute who had reached the Cornucopia early had been overpowered and Bill saw a body slumped against the Cornucopia, which he guessed to be the tribute. He caught his breath and sat down on a small rock, before inspecting his pickings. He had a small knife, a shors 'sword' and a bag full of medical supplies, food and some ammunition. _Someone must have a gun then_, thought Bill.

He took shelter behind a boulder. Keeping his ears open, Bill settled down. He rationed his food, and ate half a packet of biscuits and an apple for his dinner.

It wasn't until it was nearly dark before Bill heard the voices of two female tributes heading in his direction. One semmed to be comforting the other, and Bill guessed it was the two girls who had attacked him. He knew they would kill him if they found him out. He curled up into a ball, hiding in the shadows. They walked straight past him.

Bill stood up behind them, and one of them turned around in a look of surprise. Bill mercilessly slashed down with his short sword, cutting one of the girls vertically down the face. She immediately fell down, and the other one drew her weapon, a scary-looking sickle. She swiped at him, but he could have sat on his bed and clipped his toenails before it hit him. He ducked and effortlessly snapped her arm. She let out a gut-wrenching scream and Bill rugby-tackled her. He put a hand to her motuh, but she bit his middle finger and returned the favour by kicking him in the knee, just as he had done to her hours before. Bill fell to the floor and she kept kicking him. It became apparent to Bill that she had little to no experience in combat, so Bill rolled out of the way of her foot and sprang up again. The girl shrieked and lunged forward with her knife. Bill easily ducked out of the way and knocked the girl cold with a savage uppercut. Bill, fuelled by adrenaline, stabbed downwards with his sword. The girl gave one last strangled scream, before going silent. Simultaneously, two cannons sounded. Bill heaved a sigh of relief and sat down, cradling his finger, which had a small trickle of blood running out of it.

About ten minutes later, Bill heard the Capitol anthem and the faces of the dead tributes appeared on the side of the Arena. First off was the boy from 3, who Bill recognised as the tribute who had climbed upon the Cornucopia. He also now knew that none of the Careers had died yet, and it was likely that they were hunting at this moment in a group.

Then came the girl from 4(who Bill recognised to be one of the girls he had killed), the boy from 5, both from 6, the boy from 8, the girl from 9 (the other girl Bill had killed), both from 10 and the boy fom 11. He was also relieved when he saw that his district partner had survived the bloodbath. _10 down, 13 to go,_ thought Bill. He sat down again and eventually dozed off.

His sleep was short lived, however.

It was pitch black when he was awoken by four voices, getting louder. Bill guessed it was the Careers, and he pressed himself against a rock once again. They seemed to be in a good mood; knowing Careers, Bill assumed they had got themselves a few victims over the course of the bloodbath.

Bill kept absolutely still as the Careers walked right past him, metres from his position. He knew better than to attack them; they would surely kill him, probably slowly and painfully, if he chose to do so. They were so caught up in their conversation that they didn't see or hear him until he had snuck around his rock and bolted in the direction of the Cornucopia. One of them shouted, but the alpha male of the group thought against it. "He'll get taken out by someone else," he said.

Bill was panting for breath as he leant against the cold aliminium side of the Cornucopia. He couldn't see any tributes near him, but he kept an eye out anyway. He had had a quick look inside the Cornucopia, but it had been picked clean of anything useful. All he could scavenge was a scrap of metal, which he could use for a last resort weapon; a thick hoodie, which he abandoned because he was already stifling in his jacket and a rather large stick, which had spots of blood on the end. Bill also left that, because he didn't believe it would help him in any way.

He stayed inside the Cornucopia that night, but he didn't get much sleep because he was kept awake but he constant fear of a tribute coming back and slitting his throat in the night. He spent most of the night huddled in a corner, trying to get to sleep, clutching his sword.

He did eventually get to sleep, and awoke to the sound of the chirping of birds and the first shafts of sunlight filtering into the Cornucopia. He stood up groggily and walked out of the horn. There were still patches of dried blood on the ground, and Bill left the Cornucopia, and re-entered the desert. He could see no tributes anywhere, but there were many boulders that could be hiding anyone. He headed off in the opposite direction of the Careers, and eventually came to a small hill.

He looked around, making sure there were no tributes anywhere, before beginning his hike.

He got halfway up the hill when he heard a low runbling noise. He looked up and saw some very dark-looking clouds. The first rain drops fell on his cheek as he pulled up the hood of his jacket. The drizzle instantly turned into a downpour, and lightning flashed across the sky occasionally, making Bill jump. The rain obscured his vision, and he could have been jumped at any point. He reached the top of the hill and looked around. He could faintly see the outline of the Cornucopia, but no obvious signs of any activity from tributes or animals alike.

He turned back around and came face to face with a large tribute, who, form seeing his jacket, Bill guessed to be from District 4. Bill instinctively ducked. His instincts paid off as milliseconds later a club swished through the air, skimming his hair. Bill jumped backwards and unsheathed his sword. The tribute smirked and dropped his club. Bill, confused by this action, advanced on the tribute hesitantly. He immediately jumped back again when the tribute reached into his jacket and pulled out a machine pistol. "How the-" Bill began.

The tribute smiled. "Cornucopia," he said, before taking aim. Bill dived out of the way as the muzzle flashed and a spray of bullets studded the ground around him. Bill stabbed forward with his sword and caught the tribute on his thigh. The tribute yelped in pain and fell to the ground, blood trickling from his wound. The blood was crimson; Bill suspected he had cut the tribute deep, maybe severed an artery. He bent down, took the gun from the tribute and ran.

He slowed down just as the familiar _boom _of a cannon echoed through the Arena.

He sat behind a boulder and checked the gun. He had four extra magazines he had scavenged from the tribute, plus fifteen bullets in the gun. It was still pouring it down, slowly turning the sand into a thick sludge. Bill packed up his gear and trudged out of the now swamp-like desert. He went back to the hill where he had killed the boy from 4, and found a suitable cave for him to spend the night in. He had just enough light to see what he was doing, so there was no need to light a fire and give himself away. He wriggled around, trying to find the most comfortable sleeping postion on the cold stone floor. Eventually, he had shifted into a perfect shape, and he soon drifted off to sleep.

It wasn't until the next morning that the anthem of the Capitol played, waking Bill. He sat up and looked at the sky.

He was greeted once again by the face of the District 4 boy, but not in the flesh. His face was the first to appear on the side of the Arena, followed by the girl from 5 and the boy from 9. Bill guessed the two other tributes had been killed during the rainstorm, as he hadn't heard the cannons announcing their death. He looked around for his stuff, when he realised his gun was gone. The first seeds of fear grew in his stomach as he picked up his bag and looked out of the entrance to the cave. It was a beautiful day; the sun was shining brightly, and the hill, which was covered in grass, looked like something out of a fairy tail. Only this wasn't a fairy tale. Bill knew not to let his guard down as he stepped out of the cave. He seemed to be alone; the aea surrounding the cave was eerily silent, despite the view. Bill walked on, up to the crest of the hill. He turned around and saw the distance he had come. The Cornucopia was only just visible, at the edge of the horizon. The desert seemed to be back to normal, even though it had been a wasteland only hours before. Work by the gamemakers, Bill guessed. When he looked closer, he could see two distant tributes interacting, about two hundred metres away from the Cornucopia. It was impossible to tell whether they were fighting or if they were partners. He looked around and continued over the hill, away from the Cornucopia.


End file.
